


Saviour

by darkrogue1 (Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse)



Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-28
Updated: 2007-01-28
Packaged: 2018-07-29 14:16:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7687708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse/pseuds/darkrogue1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something goes wrong during the travel between worlds, and Yuuri drowns… thankfully Conrad is there to save him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saviour

**Author's Note:**

> Beta-read by [](http://slytherisa.livejournal.com/profile)[**slytherisa**](http://slytherisa.livejournal.com/)

  
It had started innocently enough. Yuuri was used to this by now. Whether in a bath, from a tap, in a puddle or anything else, water would start pulling at him and he would go in a swirl of air and water, pulled to this other world in which he was the Maou.

Today however something felt different. When the current slowed down, by the time he usually reached the surface of whatever body of water he arrived in --- puddle, pond, sea, wine barrel --- all he could feel around him was water. Distorted sound came dulled through his ears.

He swung his arms around, trying to turn, to feel something other than the liquid around him. His eyes wildly searched around for some land mark, some reference by which to get his position. There it was! Above him now he could see the light, the sun shining through a thin layer of water, an arm’s length, he guessed. The surface was glittering in a thousand pieces of light, reflections on the tiny wavelets which did not even really trouble the surface, just distorted the shapes behind it -- the ground, the shore -- some part of Yuuri’s brain made a note of how beautiful it was.

Now he knew where he was, under not even two feet of shallow water. Yuuri used his energy to try and get in position to swim toward the surface: he was lying down parallel to the surface, his belly oriented towards it, the least comfortable position to push towards it.

Still holding his breath, he flipped his arms and legs around, his movements feeling strangely slow and hindered by the water and his clothes.  He moved one way, then the other, and managed to get in a sitting position; but his legs would not get down, would not reach the ground under him to propel him towards the air above.  

His lungs were starting to hurt by know, and fear started to creep in. Yuuri struggled more wildly, hands pushing, pulling, trying to move him upwards. He moved his hips, trying to put himself upright: the ground was just under him, if he could just pull his legs under him he could stand and get to the surface.  He only managed to send himself in a rotating motion. He tried to stop it, but it only accelerated. Air pressure was now hurting his throat, and he willed himself not to inhale, breathe in or breathe out.

He was panicking. If this went on he would die, if he could not get air in a few seconds he would die. He struggled some more to no effect. He did not know if he was still turning around or if the motion had stopped, but in front of his eyes the light reflected in the water was turning in a regular pattern, going faster and faster. The water of the surface was so sleek and still, the light revolving around him made him dizzy.

By now his throat hurt too much, he had to breathe. Yuuri opened his mouth and took water in. Since he was trying to breathe of course it went the wrong way, and Yuuri gagged and the reflex to cough kicked in. It hurt a lot, air crossing liquid on the way down to his lungs… but then, very quickly, he could only feel water in his mouth and his nose and he relaxed. It did not hurt anymore, it felt weird, as if he were breathing water, a totally different kind of sensation.

He wondered at it for an instant, and noticed the swirling motion had disappeared. He was floating around, limbs limp, somewhere between the light and the ground. Yuuri thought about moving and made an attempt at it, but his arms and legs would not respond. I’m drowning, he thought.  It did not make him afraid anymore. Fear had gone together with the pain in his lungs. There was a pang of regret, not seeing them anymore, but his brain was getting fuzzy and he could not even remember who "them" was supposed to be anymore.

Then his sensation of seeing went funny. It was black and colourful at the same time, a different kind of brightness than the one he had seen break in a myriad of reflections on the water surface.  "It’s new," he thought. "It’s the first time I’ve seen something like that."

And just as he was wondering at what he was and "I" meant, something grasped him and pulled him up. It grasped him by the arm, but he felt as if it grabbed his whole body-- that was the "I"--, and from head to toe, everything rushed up in one block.  He broke through the glittering surface in a splash of air and water, and the droplets made everything too bright around him. The small motion of his diaphragm, which still had been working, made him take in some air through his mouth instead of the water he had come to expect, and he coughed.

He coughed and gave back water, and it was painful, much more painful than it had first been breathing it in. He coughed and coughed and it seemed he could not stop. His ears were picking up harsher sounds now, so much louder than before, and someone was strongly rubbing his back. Pain everywhere, especially in his lungs and throat.  

Finally he could make sense of the words. "Are you all right? Yuuri!" He knew this worried and authoritative voice… Conrad. It was Conrad. What was Conrad saying?  

"Yuuri, can you hear me? Answer me!"

And all the while his hands were rubbing energy into his body, their contact painful wherever they went. Yuuri’s head felt heavy, maybe from the water in his hair.

Then he finally stopped coughing, but air still felt painful getting in. He tried to speak and choked on his first words, tried again and succeeded.

"Why did you pull me up?" he asked, not understanding. Why would Conrad inflict all this pain on him?

And Conrad breathed a relieved sigh now that Yuuri had spoken -- more like croaked -- some words. His voice was intent and worried and maybe even slightly angry and uncomprehending as he spoke:

"I was worried! You were not coming up! I had to pull you up, Yuuri!"

And little by little, while Conrad eased him out of his soaked vest and wrapped him in a dry towel, still rubbing him, Yuuri let everything come back to him.

Listening to Conrad’s soothing words and letting himself float in them like he did in the water earlier, Yuuri familiarised himself with this dry world anew.

Conrad had saved him, Conrad had pulled him up from the water where he was drowning, Conrad was one of "them" he would have missed.

When he finally felt he could move on his own again, still sore and painful all over, he reached to pull Conrad into an embrace as tight as he could manage. And when answering strong arms came comfortingly around him, he whispered his heart’s feeling in a still croaked voice.

"Thank you, " he said. "Thank you for saving me."

 


End file.
